Lost at Last
by Ellen-Ruby
Summary: There were two things Deidara hated about himself. The first was his own appalling sense of direction, the other was his stupidity for listening to his conscience and helping a stranger who would inevitably become the very bane of his existance...
1. Chapter One:  A New Companion

**Lost at Last**

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**Chapter One: A New Companion **

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**A/N:** This is a Deidara and Sakura story so if you dislike them as friends or possibly more, do not read any further.

Also keep in mind that I'm new to writing, and if you find any errors in my work PLEASE let me know. It saves me from having to continuously read over what I've written for those mistakes. :)

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In Earth country, very few ventured out into the midday sun and Deidara had learnt a long time ago that this was for a very good reason. There was some cloud cover today, but the low clouds in the sky did nothing to dissipate the heat; rather, they gave off a sullen sense of pressure, redoubling the torment. Most travellers were wise enough to avoid the extreme heat, taking refuge in dens and caves. The open plains were littered with the corpses of those who were not.

One such unwise traveller was that of a cloaked body lying amongst the sun-baked mud flats and spindly shrubs. Having most likely been lying there in the sun for hours and not stirring upon his arrival, Deidara assumed that the stranger was in fact long dead. So, unperturbed, he continued up to the cave he had spotted some miles back. Planning to take residency there in hopes of avoiding the scorching sun until night, then he would continue on with his journey to get out of this miserable place.

Exhausted from his long flight in the heat, Deidara's back hit the stone wall roughly and he slid down to the ground. He let out a long sigh of relief and absolutely welcomed the feel of the cool stone seeping through his shirt. Leaning further against the cave wall, he groaned contentedly and tipped his head back, closing his eyes for a brief rest.

"Fell asleep again," Deidara muttered to himself tiredly some time later. Brushing his long stringy hair out of his face, he clambered to his feet and stepped outside. "Goddamn this place, yeah."

_'I should have been in Amegakure three days ago based on those directions.'_

The omnipresent haze made it impossible to check direction by the sun; the land was suffused with directionless, continuous light and heat until night fell, when at best a single star was visible. He wished that he could say he knew Earth country like the back of his hand, but unfortunately, having never left Iwakagure's walls before he didn't have the slightest idea of where he was going.

He really should have brought a map...

Deidara put a hand to his forehead, blocking some of the light, and peered around. There was nothing remarkable in any direction– a fair description of the landscape he had seen over the past week. Just mud, bushes, a few corpses here and there–

There was a quiet sound down below, and Deidara squinted annoyedly over the edge of the small cliff; the rustling sound repeated itself, followed by a moan, and he belatedly remembered the dun-coloured lump he had passed earlier. For some time he contemplated whether or not he should go down there and help them, but eventually the nagging voice in the back of his mind won.

With a small huff Deidara dropped the twenty-odd feet to the dirt, and walking gingerly over to traveller he squatted by their figure.

"Hey, you alive?" For a moment he thought that they'd carked it, however, the figure twitched at the sound of his voice and a single small hand slid out of a fold in the cloak.

"Want a drink, yeah?" He asked. The fingers twitched again, feebly, and he handed the hand a leather water satchel he had… appropriated… from a rogue ninja a few hours earlier that day. The lumped form shied away from his hand, obviously seeing the mouth there, and he barked laughter.

"Don't worry, it won't bite, yeah." He assured it. The hand snatched the flask quickly, retreating back inside the cloak to drink. Deidara waited.

After a time the cloaked figure sat up, and Deidara realised with surprise that the unidentifiable lump had been a very scruffy looking girl and that she had the most ridiculous shade of hair colour he had ever seen.

_'What the hell? Pink?'_

If he had to guess her age he'd say that she couldn't be more than thirteen years old, and if she was-being only a few years younger than himself, he wondered what she was doing out here alone.

Noticing her headband he assumed she was out here on a mission of some sort for her village, she did not look very tough, but Deidara knew from experience that looks could be quite decieving. Still, she eyed him coolly, obviously trying to assess him. Despite the girls current dirty and unwashed state she seemed to be a pretty dignified for kid, he had to admit.

Deidara pulled out a small amount of clay from one of his pouches and began moulding as the girl drank. He ignored her watching him toy with the clay and eventually she lowered the satchel; Deidara looked up at her, and she spoke with a slight accent, her voice was dry and it shook with exhaustion. "T-thank you..."

"Don't mention it," He brushed her off gruffly and returned the shapeless clay to his pouch before continuing, "If you can walk there's a cave up on that cliff, I'm not going to carry you, yeah."

With that said Deidara stood and made his way back up to his temorary cave, he had just finished building a cheery if smoky fire when his new pink-haired companion joined him. The reddish light of sunset outside had been replaced with the blue-gray half-light of twilight.

"You know..." She started weakly and her voice continued to strengthen as she drank. "Not many people in this place would give clean water to a stranger, I'm surprised it wasn't poisoned."

Deidara snorted inwardly. It had been clean water, assuming the fool that attacked him had intended to drink it himself, but... if he had wanted this girl to die he could have left her there by herself, she easily would have been dead by morning. "How could you tell it wasn't poisoned?" He asked, curious despite himself.

"I'm a medical ninja... well I'm learning to be one, I kind of have an aptitude for harmful toxins."

"Hm."

"I'm Sakura."

Deidara inclined his head. "Deidara," He replied in kind and her face lit up with a smile. It had been a long time since anybody had smiled at him... if this kid knew what kind of a person he was she would most certainly not be smiling at him like that. Perhaps crying... or running in the opposite direction... then, suddenly feeling annoyed and a little hostile he narrowed his eyes at her.

"How did you come to be collapsed out here alone, Sakura? Aside from stupidity, yeah?"

Her smile faded at his scathing question but she began inspecting the flesh of her arm, feeling gently around an ugly wound there and green light surrounded her fingers, which she laid lightly on the wound. Sucking in a pained breath, she sat back as the emerald glow of her chakra seeped into the injury.

"I was attacked by a band of rogue ninja. The fight used up most of my chakra," she explained tiredly. "What I have left… is barely enough to sterilize this wound." She reached into a pouch around her waist, drawing out a length of cloth bandage, and began wrapping her arm.

"Didn't answer my question," Deidara observed boredly from across the fire. Sakura looked up at him, and Deidara met her gaze steadily, she sighed and took another drink.

"I do owe you," She noted, almost to herself. "Well I've come to Earth country with my team to study its plant life and gather herb samples for my Shishou, but my teammates and I were separated in battle and I got lost. I'll be moving onto Ame when I'm done here to regroup with them..."

Deidara snorted. "Sounds like things are going fine for you so far," His eyes briefly flicked over her forehead protector. "Having your villages' headband on display in enemy territory for everybody to see is a pretty suicidal move. You are aware that Iwa and Konoha are at war aren't you? And traveling during the day on foot, no wonder you were nearly dead, yeah."

Her brow started to furrow with anger and Deidara watched as she opened her mouth to retort, but he was quick to cut her off.

"Get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

Sakura's frown deepened. "Why would you keep watch for me?"

"Do you want me not to?" Deidara snapped.

"No... sorry... are you always this grouchy?"

"Don't tempt me to kill you, yeah."

"You could have killed me at any time tonight- why did you help me anyway?" She asked, but he decided not to dignify her with a response. A few moments passed and finally realizing she wasn't going to get one from him, Sakura stood shakily and walked closer towards the fire. Dragging her cloak over her body, she curled into a ball. Pillowing her head on her arm.

Deidara huffed at the girl, realizing she was right. He wasn't completely sure why he had helped her, he could have just let her die in the dirt like an animal- and it wasn't like such an act would have been beneath somebody like him. But if she really was heading to Ame like he was, maybe some company and having a medic around if he was caught in a sticky situation wouldn't be such a bad thing... even if his company would be an annoying kid.

Keeping an eye out for movement; not even a breeze stirred, and he felt himself relax a little. It wouldn't tire him to stay on high alert the whole night, and he had done so many times before.

The night gradually began to grow cooler and it was silent for a long time until Sakura's muffled voice broke the silence, making him tense.

"I saw your headband... you're a missing nin." She began quietly, "But you were an Iwakagure shinobi, how come you're letting me live, Deidara? You know very well what village I'm from."

"Weren't you going to sleep, yeah?" Deidara called back, just a hint of an edge in his voice. The sound of cloth shuffling on sand reached his ears, somehow sounding apologetic, and he smiled grimly, turning around. Movement caught his eye several hundred yards away, and his grin widened further.

His nerves began to stand on end and buzz with artistic inspiration as he watched the group of hunter nin in the distance attempt to stealth closer towards them. The familiar frenzied desire to blow something up began to take its hold over Deidara.

He would have to be quiet, but something had to die and if he wasn't careful it would be his new companion.

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"Oh hell no."

"Do you have a better means of transportation for traveling in this shit?" Deidara gestured wildly at the _shit _around them. "This will make our journey to Ame go a hell of alot quicker. Besides, I can ditch you here and let you walk if you'd prefer to, yeah."

"Well... no... I'd rather if you didn't, but still. It doesn't look very safe."

"It's perfectly safe if you use your chakra to hold on," He stared at her for a moment. "Wait you can do that can't you?"

"Of course I can!" Sakura snapped.

"Then what's the damn problem? Hurry up and get on or I'm leavin' without you and you can stay and die, yeah." He meant it too, she wouldn't last very long on her own here and another death on his watch wasn't something he felt he would be particularly cut up about-OK, so what? That was not completely the truth, he would probably feel a little guilty because she was just a kid... but what was her problem? She had been on edge as soon as he'd summoned his artistic creation, and she was still watching it nervously. Jeez, she looked like a startled rabbit.

"Look. It's not going to kill you, yeah."

"It very well might!"

"Well then get on and try it out for yourself! You can tell me if it's dangerous or not after you try it."

"I-I'm... I'm afraid of heights." She admitted like it pained her and Deidara could only raise his eyebrows. This kid could hold her own against a group of enemy ninja and _survive_, but she was afraid of something as simple as flying? He couldn't help the mocking sneer that slowly spread across his face.

"Shut up I've never flown before!"

"I didn't say anything, yeah."

"You didn't need to, I can tell you're laughing at me." She accused. Deidara had to admit that watching this brat get riled up was pretty entertaining, he told himself that he should do it more often in the future. The future being right now.

"Right... well you poor thing," he all but drawled, half-lidded blue eyes boring into hers. "It's not that bad once you get used to it- and it's OK princess, you can hold onto me if you're afraid of falling off."

His over-dramatic statement was said in an all-too compassionate voice. If she wasn't looking at him, it really could have seemed like an honest statement, but with the look he schooled onto his face he knew it erased any of that possibility from her reality instantly.

Deidara's grin, if possible, widened further as Sakura scowled, seemingly fumbling for a response. He concluded that she looked like a half-wit then, anger obvious in her stance, and yet she was standing there looking up at him as if she were brain-dead.

After what seemed like an eternity of indecision on her part, and beginning to grow impatient, Deidara was just about ready to take off without her when she climbed onto the bird.

_'Finally, yeah.'_

Without giving her any words of warning, he sent a surge of his chakra into his clay bird making it rear up and spread its wings. There was a powerful jolt as the bird took off from the ground.

With the wind whistling in his ears Deidara did not hear Sakura's startled cry from behind him, and before he could shove her away from his person she'd flung her arms around his middle in a crushing, vice-like hug.

The sudden distraction caused him to lose control over the bird momentarily, making her bury her face further into his back and tighten her embrace. Deidara grunted in pain as he was sure he felt a few of his ribs crack, opening his mouth, he twisted around to glare at her. He detested people invading his personal space and he most definitely did not like being touched.

"I wasn't serious when I said you could hold onto me. Let. Go, yeah." He ground out, feeling uncomfortable because of the physical contact and from the not-so enjoyable sensation of a thirteen year old girl crushing his ribcage. But to his intense relief he heard her give a muffled apology in the back of his shirt before he was released from her iron grip. He couldn't help but wonder what in the hell were they feeding their children in Leaf to possess that degree of brutal strength.

_'Hmph, must be something in the water.'_

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They had been flying since sunrise and it was almost midday now. Carrying two people used up a large amount of his chakra and Deidara knew he would have to find somewhere to rest soon. The hours went by at a speed of what seemed to be a very slow and boring crawl for him. And it didn't help that Sakura would attempt to negotiate conversation with him at least once every twenty minutes, in which instance Deidara would rudely tell her her to shut-the-hell-up.

He had been travelling by himself for many months now and spending only half a day with this girl made him realise how much he actually missed that solitude and how much he loathed children.

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" His passenger piqued.

"This is my home turf, that's a stupid question so would you just shut up, yeah."

Minutes passed on in blissful silence and... once more she spoke, causing Deidara to wince.

"We've passed that same bush nine times already..."

"I said shut up." He hissed.

"But I have a map-"

"Do you want me to throw you off?" He threatened seriously, glaring at her over his shoulder. Sakura piped down immediately and looked down at her hands in a meek manner. Much better.

But was this kid really worth the trouble? Maybe he should take the supposed map and throw her off anyway, things would be much quieter around here then. But if he were to be truthful with himself, Sakura wasn't such bad company when she wasn't innocently probing him for information about his childhood, his village or incessantly prattling on about some thing or another, or just not making a sound or... well when he pretended she didn't exist at all.

"Hey, there's that bush again..."

"Oh for fu-" Deidara didn't get to finish his sentence however, as Sakura began shrieking something indescribable as a rain of weapons fell upon them, one kunai zipped past, narrowly missing his head. If he had not turned back to tell her off for 'being a crazy bitch', that blade would be embedded pretty deeply into his skull right about now.

"Hold on!" He yelled over his shoulder at Sakura, she obeyed instantly, crouching down like a spider she clung to the clay bird for dear life as Deidara did a series of evasive maneuvers in the air to avoid the constistant waves of kunai and shuriken that hailed them.

He briefly glanced back to see if Sakura was still there, which she was- and looking a little green in the face. He leveled the bird once more, quickly scanning the area below for the source of attack. It didn't take long for him to spot them, another squad of hunter nin. Deidara mused that they had most likely stumbled upon what was left of their comrades after his late night activities.

This worked well though, because he needed to blow off some steam as it was. His low chakra reserves could only make this more interesting. Grinning somewhat maniacally, and ignoring the shrill screams of his passenger, Deidara dived.

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Yay epicish battle scene next chapter! Please tell me what you think so far because your reviews would be greatly appreciated! :)


	2. Chapter Two:  The Battle

**Lost at Last**

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**Chapter Two: The Battle **

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**A/N:** Wow... talk about a late update...

**M-R:** Thank you, I really appreciate it and I intend to!

**Hellbound-Spirit**: I am very sorry for the wait, but thank you for reviewing and yes, I reckon he's bi-polar as well haha!

**Unisawr:** I wasn't sure what I was doing with the language thing either... it was a random stupid idea, I'm going to scrap it. On a lighter note it makes me very, very happy that you like the way I am portraying them, I honestly hope I don't let you down in this chapter or any future ones. Thank you for reviewing!

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Spiralling downwards, evidently in freefall, Deidara swore he saw stars and grudgingly admitted to himself that he had not expected them to send a larger than life water dragon jutsu at his bird. Naturally, such a huge amount of water turned his creation into an insulting, useless wad of wet clay that his chakra couldn't possibly hold together or control in the air. And _naturally_, it fell apart. Sending both him and Sakura flying.

This latest squad of hunters at least, had done their research. But Deidara was not going to start congratulating these kids on their reading abilities, because not only were their chakra levels incredibly low- they actually had the nerve to demand that_ he _surrender before they'd blasted him out of the sky.

It'd have been almost laughable if it didn't feel so utterly degrading that Iwa continued sending stunted amateures to slow him down. There would probably be no real challenge here, and that fact frustrated Deidara the most.

Falling to the well-beaten earthen floor, he landed with a heavy thud that made his teeth rattle. Slimy globs of wet clay hit the ground and spattered noisily around him, he vaguely wondered if Sakura had made the fall. He blinked to gain his vision back just in time to see a blade heading for his face. He rolled out of the way, the sword planted in the ground beside his head. Severing a huge chunk of his sopping blonde hair.

And that was when Deidara saw red.

"Fucker, yeah!"

Leaping to his feet, his arm shot out, aiming for the offending mans neck. The fingers of his right hand closed like a vice around it. The teeth on his hand clenched into the tender flesh covering his jugular and Deidara ripped his hand away, tearing the mans throat out in a brilliant shower of blood.

The masked man dropped his sword, clutched at his throat with gloved fingers and fell. Deidara turned to the closest ninja who was not convulsing on the ground, and brought his palm up fast and hard against her mask. It cracked and a satisfying crunch rent the air as Deidara forced her nose back into her head. Blood dripped from underneath her porcelain mask as she fell limp to the ground, most likely dead.

"What's the matter, thought this would be easy did you, yeah?" Deidara taunted at the silent remaining shinobi, his hand spat out the piece of mangled flesh into the dirt and he sped towards another enemy. His arm out he collected the moving man in the stomach, flipping him, he pushed down on his chest with all his strength as he fell. He hit the hard ground with a crack, his head bouncing.

Obviously close to the bouncing deceased, a hunter let out a scream of rage and full on charged Deidara. Sword out, ready to impale him. Deidara had been expecting that, and quickly spun out of the way, his hair flew out in a golden arch as he sliced his kunai down the outside of the hunters left thigh when they blurred past. They cried out and stumbled.

Behind the confused ninja now, he swung his arm back and jammed his kunai into the side of the hunter nins neck. He quickly withdrew his blade-a harsh ringing of steel echoed as he blocked anothers attack with his bloodied kunai. He heard a muffled voice shout "get the girl!" moments before there was an angry, feminine shriek somewhere to his right that set his teeth on edge, followed by a thunderous cracking sound that made him automatically want to cover his ears.

Surprised and disoriented, Deidara barely had time to register the earth underneath him was shifting rather violently. Instincts kicking in, he leapt away a short distance to land precariously on a broken edge of rock, he watched on, dazed with what he refused to admit was amazement, as a his tiny pink-haired medic turned the ground beneath his enemies feet to absolute rubble.

He watched as Sakura slammed her fists into the ground repeatedly, causing jagged, deadly spires to rise up from the earth and come crashing down in a stunning cresendo that swallowed four of the hunters that were too stupid and too shell-shocked to move.

Deciding to score on the element of surprise- and before the hunter nin from before could even think of attacking a second time, Deidara rushed him and kicked out, brutally smashing his foot into the other mans face. Deidara saw out of the corner of his eye that Sakura was busy fending off two of them with her fists and didn't see the third stealthing up behind her. Feeling a small surge of panic at the thought of losing his only way out of this whole mess, Deidara shot away, running directly at the nin that was about to draw his sword on Sakura, the nin saw him coming and kicked out defensively.

Deidara evaded and threw a punch of his own. The nin unsheathed his blade and twisted to avoid as well and Deidara's fist missed- but in that instant he pivoted on the balls of his feet, twisted his body around, fingers uncurling as the mouth on his hand opened wide with a grin and spat out a clay spider that latched itself onto the back of the masked nins head.

His distorted shriek of terror was cut off as Deidara leapt away and activated his explosive. Belatedly realizing he was too close, the small explosion was so forceful that it still knocked Deidara clean off his feet. Blood, clay and other remnants of his opponent's bodily organs were sent flying in all directions, most of it splattering on Sakura and himself.

_'This is going to ruin my hair'_

Ears still ringing from the explosion, Deidara sat up and looked over at Sakura to see if she had survived the blast. She was standing stock still and was covered in blood, but as far as he could tell remained unharmed.

_'Physically at least.'_ He thought with a snicker as Sakura slid to the ground with a loud thump. Regarding him with a look of mingled revoltion and fear.

He smiled widely at her, having had that expression directed at him all his life he was not bothered by it. He returned his attention to the remaining two hunters with the very same horrid smile and they tensed imperceptibly.

After recovering his precious bag from the wreckage of the bird and throwing it over his shoulder, he began his usual routine of looting the remaining bodies. A satisfied smile curved his lips when he patted one of the nins pockets and withdrew a very fat if bloodied wallet. This was something Deidara felt that he truly admired about hunter ninja, the nature of their profession always paid _so_ well.

"Hey, where is this map of yours, yeah?" He called to Sakura without looking at her, being somewhat engrossed now with removing the red chunky bits of someones something from his matted bangs.

After a few unsuccessful attempts, Deidara gave up on his ministrations and grunted at the state of his hair. He kicked one of the mutilated bodies that was closest before going over to Sakura's kneeling figure in the dirt.

"Anyone home?"

No response.

_'Well that's wierd, I couldn't get her to shut her mouth before.'_

"Hello, yeah?" He sullenly peered down at her and found that she was shaking. Oh great, his _medic _was in shock. She couldn't have picked a worse time to decide to lose it and have a mental break down, could she?

Deidara bent down, unfazed by the way she flinched at his touch when he took hold of her arm and none too gently tried to lift her to her feet. She wouldn't budge an inch.

_'What the...?'_

He frowned. There was no way she could be that heavy, she was so small... was she somehow manipulating her chakra to stay seated like that?

Deidara huffed and tried to pull her up again, with both arms this time. But he wasn't expecting Sakura to suddenly wriggle out of his grasp with astonishing speed and screech out a battle cry that he distractedly thought sounded like "hell yeah!"

He was still too taken unawares to do the intelligent thing and move out of the way. The last thing he saw before darkness enveloped him was her tiny fist flying.

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When a furious Deidara had finally come to, he was lying spread eagled on his back in the dirt with the sun burning his face, the light was white-hot even behind his eyelids.

He observed that that was one good sign at least, he hadn't been unconscious for more than an hour or two if the sun was still up. Which was another good sign in itself, it meant he wouldn't have to scout very far for his little medic.

Deidara's head was beginning to pound with what felt like an approaching migraine. The stifling heat left him feeling more than a little dazed and sick. Or maybe that could have just been from the concussion he had received. He didn't really know and he didn't particularly care to ponder on it at the moment because he was just slightly pissed off.

Keeping his eyes closed tightly he fought off the waves of lightheadedness that assaulted him and lifted a hand to feel along the right side of his jaw where Sakura had clocked him. It was swollen and obviously dislocated.

_'Crazy little bitch, yeah.'_

Hesitating only a moment to brace himself against the pain, he forced his mandible back into place with a loud crack.

"Ow." He hissed loudly through clenched teeth as a violent, jarring shock was sent through his skull. It left him stunned for a short time before the shock slowly subsided and he managed to regain enough of his composure to get to his feet. He was still swaying a little unsteadily from the pain.

Trying to ignore the throbbing in his head, Deidara dug into the clay pouch attatched to his belt. Withdrawing some, he quickly moulded a new clay bird in his hand. Using the appropriate hand seals to make his new transport large enough for two.

He hadn't been scouting for very long, in fact he was only ten minutes into his search when he came across her clumsy effort at covering her tracks.

Following the scuffed marks in the dirt he soon found her, a good five miles south, lying flat on her stomach with her skinny arms and legs sticking out awkwardly in what he supposed was her undignified attempt at hugging the ground.

"Sakura get up, yeah."

"Hnn... n-no." Came her weak reply. "Dangerous... very..."

"Come on, kid." He scowled at her, noting the state of her hands he couldn't help recalling Sakura's impressive display against the hunter squad. Seeing her split and bleeding knuckles now, a small part of him felt pity. Not a lot, given the relativity of his current condition, but some measure of empathy for the girl.

Perhaps even a smidgen of remorse for dragging her into this?

Deidara dismissed the thought quickly with a sneer.

Not wanting to have a repeat of last time and not completely certain how he should handle a little girl who could crush him with a hug or knock him out cold in one punch... or rend the earth between his feet into a death trap; he settled for nudging her warily in the side with a sandaled foot, wondering if she would tear his leg off with that crazy strength of hers.

Instead of tearing his leg off though, she simply rolled back into her original place. Deidara scoffed.

"Get up, we have to move. I really didn't think they'd try attacking me in this heat but I'm sure more will be coming soon and then I'll really be screwed, yeah."

"I don't think so... never..." He nudged her again and this time she finally started to move.

"Get up." He repeated and stepped back. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her sit up to scowl at him from under her tangled mop of hair. She peered over his shoulder and recoiled at the sight of his newly minted creation. "No. No way. Absolutely not."

"Sakura would you just get on the damned bird."

"There is no way in hell am I getting back onto that- that thing, with you!" She cried at him. Suddenly her expression froze and she turned chalk-white. Hunching over she clutched at her stomach.

Deidara stepped towards her without hesitation. _Shit_. Had she been injured during that fight? He had not seen any blood but some of his bombs had been fairly close to her when he'd set them off. He should check to make sure-"Crap I think I'm going to pu-" All over his sandals.

Wow.

Lovely.

A few tense seconds of silence passed with Deidara staring at his feet, wearing an expression that could only have been described as muted horror.

Pulling himself together a little, he fought back the urge to gag and did his utmost best to ignore the warm sticky substance that was now seeping uncomfortably between his toes. He raised his head and regarded Sakura with nothing short of cold fury.

A strange choking noise emanated from her shaking form and he realised after a moment that she was laughing at him. The muscle under his eye twitched and Deidara forced himself to calm down. His rational side reminding him that he needed her and blowing her up into thousands of tiny miniscule itty-bitty pieces-even if it would cheer him up immensely; would not help his situation.

"You're going to make this difficult aren't you, yeah?" He snapped venomously at her and raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"D-damn right I'm going to m-make this fucking difficult! You're a goddamn deranged f-fucking lunatic-" He raised his eyebrows at her profanity as she shuddered again, she had a dirty mouth for someone her age. "Oh god why c-couldn't you have just l-left me there to die?" She wailed pathetically in between tremors. All traces of her former amusement gone as her small frame shuddered again and she once more emptied her stomach. This time though, Deidara had the mind to step back.

"Believe me I have been asking myself the very same question," His lip curled in consternation and he gave his ruined sandals a brief mournful look before continuing. "And it's because I need your help... I can't get out of this place on my own, yeah."

"I don't care. I really, really couldn't c-care less if you needed m-my help and I would honestly appreciate it if you would jus- ugh-" She dry heaved violently, tears brimming in her eyes now. "J-just leave me alone!"

_'Yeah. She is going to make this very difficult.'_

He sighed deeply in frustration before looking up at the bright hazy sky. Deidara was not a nice person by any means. At all. The carnage that was left in his wake was blatant proof that fact, but honestly!

Deidara had tried to be nice to her, and he had tried to reason with her. But now Sakura was heaving on the ground, crying her eyes out shamelessly in front of him.

It was becoming obvious to him that nice wasn't working, and in her current state of mind she probably wasn't prepared to listen to reason and would refuse to help him. So, Deidara did what any young man in his situation would do when dealing with a borderline hysterical teenage girl.

He knocked her out.

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Review if you want to, I won't force you. I also welcome flames if you feel the need, coz It's still a review! Spelling corrections are also welcomed...


	3. Chapter Three: The Compromise

**Lost at Last**

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**Chapter Three: The Compromise**

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**A/N:** Arghh another late one, I'm having alot of trouble with saving my documents on here. But amg reviews, hells to the fudging yes! THANKS GUYS! I'll give my response to people without accounts at end of chapter from now on.

_-I've gone over these chapters and cleaned them up a bit. Thank you reviewers for pointing out the things that didn't quite sound right. Much appreciated! 3_

On with the story...

* * *

It would be a safe assumption to say that Deidara was not having a very good day. He had received cracked ribs, a dislocated jaw and he also had had the fine pleasure of being vomited on. All of this caused by one little girl – no caused by a goddamned little monster. And all taking place in the span of only nine hours.

It would also be safe to assume that, being covered in said monster's puke and wreaking of blood and sweat- that he stunk quite badly. Stunk like a damn _sewer._

So, when the vague outline of buildings came into view on the red and gold horizon, Deidara couldn't remember feeling so relieved at any point in his life as he did in that moment upon spying the civilian village.

He also couldn't remember the last time he had slept in a real bed either, much less the last time he had had a proper shower.

He did not want to spend the night in a run down inn after his ordeals today, so Deidara found an expensive looking hotel in the middle of the village. Not one to bother with discretion, he landed his bird in the crowded street. Much to his amusement, the civilians that were nearby all scampered like frightened mice. The lot of them gasping and whispering wide-eyed over his art.

This pleased Deidara of course, and he couldn't help but smile at them. His creations were something to be marveled and wondered at. Perhaps later if they were lucky, when he departed from this village he would show them all the true wonders of his art.

"Customer welcome!" An old man greeted him and waved cordially from behind the reception desk as Deidara entered the hotel. He inclined his head slightly in response before speaking.

"Do you have any rooms, yeah?"

"Yes but only one, we are very nearly booked out this time of year. Are you travelling alone?"

"Ye- I mean no, I have somebody with me. She's outside."

"That is excellent news then, sir. We have the Romance Suite ready and available for you and your partner."

"T-the what... what?" Deidara's cheerful mood all but vanished.

"The Romance Suite, sir."

"... That's the only one vacant, yeah?" He deadpanned.

"I'm sorry? Sir, but that is the case," The old man said. Seemingly confused and nervous at Deidara's sudden change of tone. "The young couple that were staying for their honey moon left early this morning, the room is perfectly in order though, I assure you...' The manager trailed off upon noticing Deidara's attire and he faltered at the sight of all the dried blood on him; his beady eyes darted up to Deidara's headband and there was a flash of recognition in them that was not missed by the young artist.

_'Now he gets it.'_

Beginning to feel inexpressibly annoyed again, Deidara glared fixedly at the old man who started to chatter and contemplated blowing him up. The manager sensed the killing intent that was coming from his new customer and stopped talking.

The Romance Suite... Deidara certainly didn't want that brat outside getting ideas, and he was sure she would because Deidara knew quite intimately how pubescent teenage girls thought of him. But he had well-earned money and after today he most certainly intended to spend it.

"I suppose I'll take the room." He conceded finally, snatching the keys from the manager's open hand and pocketing them.

_'Creepy teenage-girl fantasies be damned, yeah.'_

Deidara retrieved the wallet that he had looted earlier from his other pocket and pulled out a large amount of cash. Holding it out over the counter, the manager turned bug eyed at the sight of so much money and went to take it from Deidara. But he held onto it and met the old mans eyes. His bribe and warning were obvious. Deidara finally released the notes and left the room to collect his medic.

Once he was outside, his bird's tail uncurled to reveal his unconscious passenger. Throwing the girl over his shoulder, one arm hooked over her legs so she didn't slide off, he made his way back inside the hotel. Ignoring the terrified manager as he passed.

Deidara paused in front of his Romance Suite and gave the tacky red heart on the door his most feral scowl. He retrieved the keys from his pocket and fiddled with them for the correct one. Jostling Sakura a little so her hip bone wasn't driving into his shoulder so much, he unlocked the door and entered.

After dumping his companion unceremoniously on the bed, he made a beeline for the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him.

Deidara tore off his dirty clothing and hurriedly removed his sandals. He spent a good forty minutes in the shower, scrubbing himself thoroughly with the cheap grainy soap that was left for using. It wasn't much but he still enjoyed the feeling of hot water on his skin and being clean.

Stepping out of the shower, he reached for the prepared towel on the rack and groaned when he realised it was _fluffy_ and_ pink_. He wrapped the vulgar looking towel around his waist and went over to stand in front of the large bathroom mirror that hung above the polished white sink.

Seeing his reflection, Deidara felt a small jolt of surprise at how different he looked. It had been months since he'd last been in front of a mirror and he barely recognized the person looking back at him now. He saw with dissatisfaction that he had lost a lot of weight over the last few months as well, but that could only be expected in his situation.

Mildly lost in thought now, Deidara met his own eyes in the mirror again. He brushed the tips of his fingers over the large mottled bruises he'd attained- eyebrows sweeping downwards in a frown when his fingers reached some of the ugly scars that riddled his chest. He removed his hand quickly and looked to his recent injuries again, the bruises he had acquired made him think back to the young girl lying in the other room.

He would persuade Sakura to look at his injuries soon, well maybe not too soon. He didn't exactly trust her near his body right now. If he were to let her under his guard again he was sure she'd take the first opportunity she had to render him unconscious and to try to flee again.

He knew he would have to try and handle the situation with a little more tact if he wanted to get anywhere with Sakura, to get anywhere at all. It was going to be difficult on him though.

Not just because the hunter's had caught wind of him again, and he was absolutely certain that more would come- perhaps even _she_ would come... Deidara quietly hoped so, they both still had some unfinished business. But things _would_ be much more difficult now because Deidara, in his desperation, had gone and saddled himself up with a whiny kid.

Maybe, if he were to try acting a little more friendly towards Sakura and less like the fugitive he knew he was, she might have a more favorable reaction towards him and heal his injuries? Recalling how she had smiled so easily at him yesterday, he decided that he would try treating his medic with some more... consideration. It would be difficult, yes. But Deidara surmised that it would work out well to his advantage if he did, and if he was lucky he might just make it out of this alive. Alive and set for life.

Dragging his fingers through his tangled hair, he attempted to unknot it with very little success.

Still carrying his bag he opened the door to the bedroom to find his little medic wide awake. He noted that her arms were still secured behind her back and that she was sitting up on the bed staring rather angrily at him.

It would appear that she had recovered from her crying fit earlier.

"You're finally awake."

"You kidnapped me!" Sakura hissed and, noticing his attire wrinkled her nose, "Nice towel..."

Ignoring her second comment, he waved her off. "I did no such thing, yeah."

"Oh_ really_? Then would you care to explain to me why you knocked me out?" Her voice rose and Deidara felt his eye beginning to twitch, "Or why I woke tied up in a cheap love hotel with _chocolates on my pillow_!" And then, suspiciously: "What the _hell _kind of criminal are you!"

"I knocked you out because I wanted to talk with you, yeah."

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope. You weren't exactly in a talking mood at the time, yeah." He said and slouched over towards the bed. He reached down near her leg and she shrunk away from him with fear in her eyes.

_'Oh please.' _He fought the urge to roll his eyes.

Instead of touching her like she thought he would, Deidara picked up one of the chocolates from the pillow beside her and popped it in his mouth.

"Is this how you usually negotiate conversation with someone...?" She said in disbelief. "If you want to talk with me, untie me!"

"I'm not stupid. You'll just try to get away again, yeah." He ate another chocolate. For complimentary sweets these were actually quite good. "So this will do for now until I know you won't try running off- until we come to a compromise."

"A compromise?"

"That's what I said, yeah."

"Ha! I don't think that's gonna happen!"

"And why not?"

"Oh I don't know... maybe because you're insane? Or maybe because you get some sick form of gratification from blowing people up!"

Hm, true and true... although he had restrained himself from blowing _her_ up numerous times already. And at this moment, killing her would make him feel much more _gratified_ then when he was dealing with those hunters earlier. She should appreciate his restraint.

"I'm sure we can put our differences aside and work together though. Don't you, yeah?" He offered politely, teeth clenched together in a strained smile.

Her eyebrows flew up, "Not really, no."

"Well, before you say no to a compromise-"

"I did say no-"

"I think we should evaluate the situation-"

"I said n-"

"I don't care-"

"-No."

"-Because we're both in the same predica-"

"No."

"Pre-dic-a-ment. I need your help and I believe it would be beneficial for us both if we-"

"No."

"Oh for- just stop. Stop. Stop interrupting me or I will. Honestly. Kill. You!"

"You won't kill me because you need me."

"I don't need you! Why would I need a kids help?"

She gave him an exasperated look, "God, you're such a freak! You've said that you needed my help twice now. No, wait... three times..." Deidara exhaled loudly through his nose and Sakura's eyes wandered up to the ceiling. Feigning to be deep in thought, "... Three... four? I can't remember exactly because I was a busy throwing up at the time, things were fuzzy and then you _hit_ me-"

"-Shut up you stupid brat I don't need you, yeah."

"If you didn't, you wouldn't have helped me in the beginning. You wouldn't have protected me from those ninja and you wouldn't have brought me here!"

"Whatever, yeah." He ended rather lamely and they both fell into a malicious silence. He was aware that irrationally bickering like this was extremely childish, but he did not want to admit it aloud again that he needed her because it was emasculating.

It had been an uncharacteristically kind gesture to give her water yesterday, Deidara knew. And he hadn't done it because she'd been a pretty girl who was going to waste away out there- because she was most certainly _not _pretty_. _Well, not that he had actually bothered to look. That aside, Deidara had never been one for cliché heroics... It just troubled him that after everything_,_ he had still managed to feel that annoying prick of a conscience when he'd first seen her.

He had even felt a small amount of guilt at the idea of leaving a kid out there to rot in the sun. Which was an utterly ridiculous notion and hardly made any sense at all when he thought about it, because he'd not felt any emotion other than sheer delight when letting loose his art upon the citizens of Iwakagure.

Though, they had been most deserving of his wrath and he had had a most valid reason to feel_ good_ about blowing half of that filthy, decrepit village sky high. That is besides showing them all the surreal beauty of his artworks.

But why should _he_ have given a damn about a stranger- ? He toyed with the idea that it was because she was so young and that she'd been just as lost and alone as he was out there. Or that, you know. That it could be an almost pleasant change- having someone around that didn't want to murder him in his sleep for the bounty on his head... he knew he was thinking too much into the situation though, having a medic accompanying him on his journey to Ame could only be a benefit, even if said medic had yet to do anything other than cause him grievous bodily harm.

All that should matter to him at this point in time was surviving, surviving and making it to Amegakure to pick up his contract so he could finally start work as freelance. Deidara saw himself clearly as a modern-thinking artist, he was not tied down by a village anymore and there were no petty regulations or stone walls to hold him back from being completely himself.

As long as he could bring fleeting life to his beautiful creations, have someone appreciate his art- and make a hell of a lot of money from it all the while, life would be great. So as it was, anything from politics to morals should be nothing short of trash to him. He figured now that he'd only helped her yesterday because he had logically known that he would need her aid to reach his goal. It was really all so simple.

Cheered by his recent turn of thoughts and feeling his anger beginning to dissipate a bit, Deidara remembered that he was going start trying to be pleasant with Sakura.

"Are you hungry?"

"What?"

"I asked if you were hungry." He said. Placing his bag on the bed in front of him, he unbuckled it. Deidara pulled out a pair of pants and a mesh shirt to change into, they weren't clean but they were the only other intact change of clothes he had, they were also in a much better state than the clothing he was wearing earlier. He hadn't had much time to grab many personal possessions before defecting from Iwakagure.

"I'll go out and get us something to eat. I don't know about you but after spending three months out in that shit hole by myself, surviving on crappy ration packs and soldier pills - I'm starving, yeah."

She looked at him blankly for a moment before finding her voice. "Um... yes I am pretty hungry actually."

"What do you want?"

"... Seriously?" She said charily.

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't serious."

"Oh... well... tempura or maybe some ramen?" Her tone was a little unsure and Deidara observed that she didn't seem to be all that angry at him now.

"Sure, yeah." He replied. Feeling like getting back at her for her little jab about his towel earlier, and simply wanting to stir her up a bit- he dropped the fluffy pink towel and it fell in a crumpled pile at his feet. Sakura shrieked and fell back onto the bed, hiding her face in a crimson pillow.

"What's the matter with you?" He snorted at her and pulled on his fresh pair of dusky brown-coloured pants. "Don't worry, it's safe. You can look now, yeah."

Sakura sat upright and stared him, her face flushed red with embarrassment, "W-what's the matter with me? What the hell is the matter with you? Don't you have any shame?" She squeaked.

"What? Never seen a naked man before?"

"O-of course I have, I'm a damn medic!" She sputtered indignantly and if possible her face grew redder. She almost matched the bedding, "Just normal people don't strip off in front of- oh you know what- never mind!" She fell back again, mumbling something incoherent into the pillow.

"Right..." Deidara sounded slowly. He dragged his shirt over his head and slung his bag over his shoulder before going to the door, "Well I'll be back soon. I wouldn't waste my time trying to get out of those restraints if I were you. That particular compound has been fused with my chakra and it is very sensitive to movement and _very_ explosive, yeah."

* * *

In all her short years as a ninja, Sakura had never come into contact with a person as absolutely batshit crazy as Deidara. And by calling him batshit crazy she was sugarcoating it.

Sakura herself had gone against some pretty strange opponents on missions that Team-7 had been assigned (not counting this one of course), but compared to Deidara those ninja she had faced were very, very mild. No one she knew in Konoha could match Deidara's homicidal tendencies and Sakura was more than suspicious of him being bi-polar.

But she wished desperately that she, Naruto and Kakashi-Sensei had never split up. She missed them so much; and she missed all of her friends that were back in Konoha. She hated feeling hopeless and weak and afraid. And she even felt a little betrayed by her mentors. Neither of them had bothered to hint at- or prepare her for an encounter like this one.

Come to think of it, even during her time at the Academy, not a word was spoken on how to act in a situation like this one. She had no idea what to do, what to say, how to fight. It didn't help that Deidara sometimes frightened the hell out of her...

And when Sakura was scared she either got angry or she'd start babbling nervously. So far she had done both of those things and Deidara didn't seem to react too well to either. His short temper could have something to do with the fact that he was a criminal- and he naturally wouldn't react well to anything that came out of her mouth.

He was, as far as she'd seen, violent, sarcastic, short-tempered, rude, confusing and Sakura didn't think that she ever wanted to come into contact with someone like him again in her whole life.

And she sure didn't plan to.

If only she could find a way out of his restraints... she could possibly break them with her chakra but before her captor had left to buy food, he'd warned her that the restraints were explosive. Judging from his horrendous display earlier this evening, she didn't doubt his word for a second. She was not that foolish.

_'I don't buy that excuse for a minute! That psycho's probably just gone out to kill more people, cha!' _Sakura quickly squashed down her inner self's voice, feeling ill at the thought of more human parts being sent all over the place- She was still terribly traumatized from this afternoon, and what he did to those people... what he did to that man with his hand-

_'Stop thinking about it!'_

Trying to distract herself from her own thoughts, Sakura examined the room around her. Searching for some form of escape, because who knew what this freak had planned for her when he got back. She remembered the disturbing things Ino had mentioned to her that happened to some female ninja on missions. Sakura wasn't completely sure what half of those things Ino said to her had meant, but she did have a pretty good imagination.

She shivered with fear at the mental images that began to assault her young mind, consequently sending her inner-self into a state of panic.

That did it. That did it!

She hadn't even had her first kiss yet! She couldn't die yet! She _had_ to get out of here before she was killed, or worse. Sakura crunched her body like a spring and leapt off the bed, aiming for the open hotel window. Deidara's warning momentarily forgotten.

For one amazing moment Sakura was nearing her freedom, the cool night breeze from the window touching her face... and the next, she was on the floor with her face pressed flat into the mushy red carpet.

She stayed like that for a few minutes in the eery silence of the hotel room, staring at the wall. And that's when the sniffling set in. She moved her head so that her cheek was resting against the floor. Tears brimmed in her eyes and Sakura found that she couldn't stop them. Her sniffles soon turned to sobs and then into loud, choking hiccups. It wasn't long before she was crying piteously to herself.

_'What am I going to do?' _She wailed inside her head as she cried. Even Inner-Sakura had fallen quiet.

* * *

Besides a chemist and a few fast-food stands, hardly any stores were open at this hour. Stomach growling loudly, his hands in his pockets, Deidara wandered along the dim lamp-lit streets.

After ten minutes he decided to stop wasting time searching for other shops to be open this late. He needed to stock up on food supplies and clothing for the journey, sure. But he had no choice other than to wait until morning for those stores to open. Sighing, Deidara took a turn down a grubby alley and he briefly thought that Sakura could have broken out of his restraints by now.

That's if she had bravely put them to the test only to find out that Deidara had been bluffing. That particular clay would only explode when or if he decided to detonate it himself. He was not stupid enough to risk his only chance of surviving this mess, and if she did get away again he would simply find and drag her back after he'd finished eating _her_ meal.

Taking a seat at a ramen stand he'd spied while flying over the village, Deidara ordered two large meals to take away. He paid the cook and put his hands in his lap, impatiently waiting for his food. Five minutes or so passed and he tried to figure out what kind of animal was producing that high pitched and irritating noise that'd started up as soon as he had sat down to order his food.

Unconsciously tapping his bare foot against the metal bar underneath his stool, he peered around the open area. and soon found himself looking at a group of very cute civilian girls, possibly around his age.

Well, at least he'd managed to find the source of the noise that had been making him grind his teeth.

_'Girls, yeah.' _He thought shrewdly. There was only ever one way to deal with them.

Deidara rested his elbow on the bench and turned his body to face the group and unleashed his most charismatic grin, which instantly caused them to start blushing and twittering amongst themselves.

He waved to them invitingly and the lips on his palm peeled open to share his grin, he stuck out its tongue at them. The giggling abruptly died.

Most of the girls looked horrified and several turned pale when Deidara wriggled the tongue at the group suggestively. They stood quickly with collective gasps and fled the vicinity.

He enjoyed some minutes of quiet before the cook, having missed the little fiasco, returned with two bulging cartons of ramen.

"Here's your food, sir." She politely said, handing the plastic bag over to a very smug looking Deidara.

* * *

"OK. _What_ are you doing on the floor, yeah?" Deidara asked as he turned to lock the door from the inside of the bedroom. Upon hearing his voice, Sakura let out a long shuddering breath of relief.

Had she been crying _again_?

"Admiring the carpet, what does it look like? Help me up already." Sakura demanded, rolling over onto her side her eyes zoned in on the plastic bag he was holding. She sniffed, her eyes puffy and bloodshot. "Oh. Is that for me?"

"Maybe. Have you decided yet, yeah?" Deidara replied evasively as he slouched over to help her up. He really disliked touching people, hated it in fact. But he felt that he currently disliked touching her more than anyone else. But the feeling seemed to be mutual, because she shrunk away from him when he fisted the material of her ruined red shirt. Easily lifting her off her feat before plopping her on the bed.

"Decided wha- oh that, I'm still thinking about it."

She watched the carton of food that was dropped into her lap for several long seconds and spoke. "Can you untie me now Deidara? I can't eat without my hands, unless you're in the mood to hand-feed me but I think that would just turn out to be really, really awkward and-"

"-Alright, alright. I'll untie you. But would you just stop talking for five minutes, yeah?"

"Fine, I will if you untie me." She agreed hastily. Deidara huffed and warned her not to run and told her that he'd be even more tempted to blow her up if she were to try to escape when all he wanted to do was simply relax and eat his dinner. He deactivated the clay sculpture that was wrapped around Sakura and it fell away from her person.

Deidara snorted. Apparently, a good meal was more important than having five minutes of freedom because Sakura snatched up her chopsticks and began eating. She paused, her chopsticks loaded with noodles an inch from her mouth. She looked at him from the far side of the bed with an almost guilty expression on her face.

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled uncomfortably because he felt Sakura's gaze on him. His fingers stopped their movement on the cardboard lid and Deidara turned to narrow his eyes at her. "What is it now, yeah?"

"Thank you, I didn't think you were going to actually buy me food knowing what you ar-oh right sorry."

"...Just shut up, yeah."

"Sorry-"

Deidara silenced her with a dark look and resumed opening his box of noodles. Salivating a little at the sight of his steaming dinner, his stomach rumbled loudly with anticipation. How long had it been since he had eaten proper food? Far too long, that was for sure. Being wholly absorbed now with the delicious smell and taste of his meal, Sakura's rather disturbing eating habits came very slowly to his attention.

But come to his attention they did.

"Could you at least try to eat with a bit of decorum, yeah? You're making me lose my appetite..."

"Wow. I'm being lectured on decorum by _you_..." She snorted derisively, and much to his disgust- caused bits of food and spittle to go flying. She continued to shovel more noodles into her mouth, "Decorum can go to hell."

Deidara wondered when the last time was that she'd had anything to eat and watched on in open revulsion when Sakura swallowed noisily - seeing him looking at her again she bristled. "You don't like how I eat well stop staring!"

"It's hard not to stare, morbid fascination and all that..." She glowered at him and he studied her face seriously, "You know what you remind me of?"

"Humor me."

"You remind me of like... like some kind of oriental grub, wolfing it all down like that, yeah."

In response she grunted and consumed more food into that bottomless pit of hers. They both continued to eat and it was Deidara who spoke, breaching the quiet.

"So... how long can you hold a henge for?" He'd asked as he chewed on a deliciously juicy piece of beef.

"Not very long, only a couple of minutes... why?"

"Never mind, I expected that. I got you some hair dye anyway, yeah." Not taking his eyes off his food he felt around in one of the pockets of his bag for the dye until his fingers found it. Tossing the hair dye at her, she caught the little brown bottle with ease.

"Uh, thanks. I think..." She said, "But why would I need to dye my hair?"

"Your hair," He raised his arm and pointed at her head with his chopsticks, promptly clicking them together. "It's pink."

"Ok... so what?"

"So, nothing says, _'hi! Come kill me I'm foreign' _like your hair does."

"So...?"

He closed his eyes tightly and huffed, "So I don't want you attracting unnecessary attention to me while we're travelling."

"Ok... first up I'm pretty sure you do that well enough on your own. And second, I never agreed to help you - and third," his right eye twitched, "-just 'cause you bought me some food, you really think it'll make up for you massacring all those people earlier? That I'll just agree to help you- go roaming around the countryside with a missing nin!"

"Depends, is it working, yeah?"

"Hell no it's not."

He stared at her a moment, a bit miffed that his plan with the ramen didn't quite spark off their long and tedious compromise together. But so what if she was a little more complex than that? In his books it just made her even more... "Annoying. Sakura, you're annoying, yeah."

She pulled a face and set her empty take out box on the bedside table. Deidara guessed that she was either a seriously oversensitive teenager when it came to being insulted or he'd somehow hit a taboo subject –seeing the hurt that flashed in her eyes briefly, it was most probably the latter. It was just too bad that Deidara didn't give a damn about her feelings, or her past.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"I'm dirty. I need to take a shower."

"No arguments there, you stink." He bit the inside of his cheek when she threw him a very offended look. Setting his own food down, he stood and followed her to the bathroom.

She stopped just inside, turning to face him standing in the doorway. "What. are. you. doing?" Sakura hissed, enunciating each word.

"Keeping an eye on you." He replied with an impassive face. "I can't have you escaping."

"Like hell you are, I don't want you watching me shower you pervert!" She all but yelled. Deidara stared mutely at her with the same poker-faced expression on his features but after a short while he found that he couldn't hold it.

Deidara's facade soon cracked, mouth twitching upwards into a grin, he cackled. "You actually think I'd want to watch you shower, yeah?"

He knew that this really was not helping his injuries but damn, the indignant look on her face was absolutely priceless. It made him laugh even harder. Finding himself gasping for breath he held his aching stomach. "Y-you're a scrawny kid and you are flat as a board!" To emphasize his point he looked down at her chest and wiggled his eyebrows comically.

"You're such a bastard!" Her face red with anger, she hit him in the chest repeatedly with her tiny fists. Thankfully not using her full strength, but it was certainly still going to bruise. "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

"I'm going princess, I'm going, yeah!" Thoroughly enjoying himself now, he held up his hands in mock defeat as she beat him out of the bathroom. Sakura grabbed a hold of the wooden handle and slammed the door shut in his face with a loud crash that made the hotel room walls shudder from the impact.

_'Fuck!'_

Deidara reeled back in shock as his nose exploded with pain and blood. His hand flew to his face and his eyes started watering as he stumbled over towards the bed. Sakura's voice was muffled through the door but he heard her "I'll agree to that compromise now," before she turned on the shower and all he could hear was the sound of running water.

Still clutching his nose, Deidara threw one very infuriated glare in the general direction of the bathroom before picking up his dirty shirt from the floor and vainly tried to stem the flow of blood.


End file.
